Passive electronic devices

ABSTRACT

A passive electronic device includes layers of a layered structure on a support surface. The device can include a first layer part that includes electrically conductive or semiconductive material and that has a contact surface. The device can also include second layer parts that include electrically conductive material and are in electrical contact with the contact surface, with a subset electrically connectible to external circuitry. At least one of the parts of the two layers can be produced by a printing operation or can include a printed patterned artifact such as an uneven boundary or an alignment. The printing operation can be direct printing or printing of a mask for etching or liftoff or both. The device could, for example, be a resistive device, such as a device with resistance varying in response to non-electrical stimuli, or a conductive device, such as with a contact pad for a pogo pin.

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is related to the following co-pendingapplications, each of which is hereby incorporated by reference in itsentirety: U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/114,611 (U.S. PatentApplication Publication No. 2003/0186453); “Apparatus and Method forImproved Electrostatic Drop Merging and Mixing”, U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 11/018,757; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/167,748 (U.S.Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0238080); U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/167,612 (U.S. Patent Application Publication No.2005/0254994); U.S. Patent application Ser. No. 11/167,746 (U.S. PatentApplication Publication No. 2005/0254552); U.S. patent application Ser.No. 11/167,635 (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0265898);“Patterned Structures Fabricated by Printing Mask Over Lift-OffPattern”, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/184,304; “ProducingLayered Structures Using Printing”, U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/318,926; and “Layered Structures on Thin Substrates”, U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/318,975.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to electronic devices, and moreparticularly to passive electronic devices.

U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2003/0186453 describesnanocalorimeter arrays with thermal isolation regions on a substrate. Athermal isolation layer can include a plastic material in thin foil formranging from less than 15 μm to approximately 25 μm in thickness,possibly as thin as 2 μm and as thick as 500 μm. Thermal equilibriumregions contain resistive thermometers, drop merging electrodes, andinsulating layers deposited using standard fabrication techniques, suchas lithographic patterning of thin films, microelectronic fabricationtechniques (e.g. including sputtering, chemical etching, evaporation),and printed circuit board fabrication techniques. If amorphous siliconthermometer material is deposited, such as at temperatures in the rangeof 170-250° C., a substrate polymer film should have a high softeningtemperature. Deposition of vanadium oxide thermometer material can bedone at a substantially lower temperature, allowing a substrate polymerwith a lower softening point.

U.S. Patent Application Publication 2003/0134516 describes fabricationof an array of electronic devices such as a display or sensor. A dropletsource ejects droplets of a masking material for deposit on a thin filmor substrate surface to mask an element of an array. The dropletsrapidly freeze upon contact and the thin film or substrate is thenetched. A pixel of a large display system can include a thin-filmtransistor (TFT) or sensor or other emissive element. For example, agate and ground plate can be formed in a first metal layer by depositinga phase change mask and then etching. A TFT's active region can bedeposited, followed by a second metal layer in which a source, a dataline, and a drain can be formed, again by depositing a phase change maskand etching. The drain, a dielectric, and the ground plate together canform a storage capacitor.

U.S. Patent Application Publication 2005/0136358 describes liftoffoperations that involve printing liftoff patterns, such as multi-layerliftoff patterns. A mask structure may be formed from a liftoffoperation, and can then be used as an etch mask, for example. Thepublication also describes printing of integrated circuit (IC) patternsdirectly on a substrate rather than using photolithography; a printed ICpattern may include gates and source and drain regions of thin filmtransistors, signal lines, opto-electronic device components, and soforth. Also, a patterned liftoff layer can include contact pads for anIC, electrodes for a transistor device or another structure or device,or bus lines.

It would be advantageous to have improved techniques for passiveelectronic devices.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention provides various exemplary embodiments, including devices,apparatus, arrays, and methods. In general, the embodiments areimplemented with layered structures on support surfaces.

These and other features and advantages of exemplary embodiments of theinvention are described below with reference to the accompanyingdrawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic layout diagram of an integrated circuit (IC) thatincludes an array of thermal sensing cells on a flexible substrate.

FIG. 2 is a partially schematic top view of a thermal sensing cell inthe array of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of a pair of thermistor slabs in the cell ofFIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the thermistor slabs in FIG. 3,taken along the line 4-4.

FIG. 5 is a sequence of cross-sectional views of the cell of FIG. 2,taken along the lines 5-5 in FIGS. 2 and 3 and showing stages inproducing the cell.

FIG. 6 shows a sequence of images from an experimental example thatproduced slabs of semiconductor material with printed patternedartifacts.

FIG. 7 shows an image from another experimental example in which slabsof semiconductor material similar to those in FIG. 6 are partiallycovered by conductive material to produce a thermistor-like structure.

FIG. 8 is a graph showing measured current as a function of appliedvoltage for a thermistor-like structure as in FIG. 7.

FIG. 9 is a sequence of cross-sectional views of the cell of FIG. 2,taken along the line 9-9 and showing stages in producing a contact pad.

FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view of an alternative implementation of athermal sensing cell that can be used in the array of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following detailed description, numeric values and ranges areprovided for various aspects of the implementations described. Thesevalues and ranges are to be treated as examples only, and are notintended to limit the scope of the claims. In addition, a number ofmaterials are identified as suitable for various facets of theimplementations. These materials are to be treated as exemplary, and arenot intended to limit the scope of the claims.

The implementations described below related to “electronic devices”, abroad term used herein to refer generally to devices whose production oroperation involves the emission, behavior, and effects of chargecarriers such as electrons and holes. More specifically, someimplementations described below involve “passive electronic devices” andothers involve “active electronic devices”. As used herein, the term“passive electronic device” refers to devices that, in operation, cantransfer information electrically without gain or control; in otherwords, the category of passive electronic devices is complementary withthe category of “active electronic devices”, meaning devices thattransfer information electrically with gain and/or control. Examples ofpassive electronic devices include resistors, conductances, capacitors,inductors, diodes (including, for example, light-emitting diodes orLEDs), and so forth. In general, transistors, on the other hand, areactive electronic devices, because their operation involves gain and/orcontrol. In addition, the category of passive electronic devicesincludes more complex devices that do not include any active components;for example, various filters, transducers, receivers, and transmitterscan be implemented as passive electronic devices.

The exemplary implementations described below address problems thatarise in electronic devices, such as in their fabrication. Inparticular, the implementations include calorimeters, and specificallynanocalorimeters that include 96 sensors, each able to detecttemperature rises on the order of 10⁻⁶° C.

One problem addressed is that of providing a low cost, high throughputtool to detect biomolecular interactions through enthalpy assaytechniques; in such a tool, an informed screen would require measuring aminimum of 10,000 interactions with a small amount of material. Thisproblem could be alleviated if enthalpy array fabrication yield andcapacity could be increased while reducing cost, thus enabling a verylarge number of measurements. Many of the devices in a typical enthalpyarray, however, are passive electronic devices, so this problem can onlybe alleviated with techniques that can produce such devices.

Conventional architectures for enthalpy arrays employ as many as sevendifferent layers deposited on a thin polyimide flexible substrate suchas Kapton® suspended over a cavity and laminated on its edges to a rigidmetal support frame. The substrate is typically fragile, and must bestiffened to maintain good alignment and registration. In general, thesubstrate must be flat for accurate processing, and needs to stay inplace despite heating, cooling, and other operations.

U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0238080, incorporated byreference in its entirety, describes techniques that can be implementedwith a total of seven layers: Five thin layers are each deposited andphotolithographically patterned on one side of the substrate, afterwhich two thin layers are each deposited and photolithograhicallypatterned on the opposite side of the substrate. This approach iscomplicated, expensive, and unnecessarily precise because enthalpy arrayfeatures have typical minimum dimensions of approximately 50 μm orgreater, while photolithography can be used to produce submicron featuresizes. In one implementation, six of the seven layers have feature sizesof 50 μm or greater.

Photolithography also involves various photoresist process steps such assubstrate cleaning, resist coating, soft or hard baking, mask aligning,exposing, developing, and resist dissolving, all of which may beperformed for each photolithographically patterned layer, leading tomany more process steps. These steps are problematic, time consuming,and apply stress and thermal budget to the flexible substrate, alsopossibly causing one or more layers to crack or otherwise becomedefective. For example, substrate cleaning can involve temperaturesbetween 90-110° C.; resist coating can involve spinning at 1000-3000rpm; resist baking can involve temperatures between 90-120° C.; resistaligning and exposing can involve ultraviolet illumination; resistdeveloping can involve a wet process; and resist dissolving can involveboth a dry plasma etch such as RIE and a wet process. Spinning, forexample, can cause a mechanically fragile substrate to tear or becomedefective. Cleaning steps such as RIE followed by acetone and strongerorganic solvents may lead to chemical and physical modifications of thelayered structure on the substrate, such as a vanadium oxide surface;also, water rinse and air drying after each wet process can deform athin substrate.

In addition to enduring the direct stress of photolithographicoperations, the substrate must survive conflict between its plasticityand rigidity of photolithographically produced layers. For example,during heating and cooling, the substrate may expand and shrink morethan the rigid layers on it, possibly causing cracking or other defectsin the rigid layers. This conflict can degrade process yield andincrease fabrication costs accordingly. It may also increase flickernoise, which directly correlates to lower sensor resolution.

In sum, in order to improve process yield, increase the number offunctional sensors in an array, and improve resolution such as byreducing noise resulting from processing, it would be advantageous toeliminate or reduce the number of photolithographic operations used inproducing an enthalpy array without compromising device performance. Inaddition, it would be advantageous to have techniques that can be usedto produce aligned structures, whether in enthalpy arrays on flexiblesubstrates or in any other layered structure on a support surface. Andit would be advantageous to have techniques for producing passiveelectronic devices.

Some of the implementations described below involve thermal sensing. Theterm “sensing” is used herein in the most generic sense of obtaininginformation from a physical stimulus; sensing therefore includes actionssuch as detecting, measuring, and so forth. “Thermal sensing” is sensingof a thermal stimulus such as heat, temperature, or random kineticenergy of molecules, atoms, or smaller components of matter. A “thermalsensor” is accordingly an electronic device that performs thermalsensing.

A “resistive thermal sensor” is a thermal sensor with electricalresistance that varies with the thermal stimulus that it senses, incontrast to various thermal sensors that sense in other ways such aswith thermocouples or thermopiles. As used herein, the term “thermistor”means an electrically resistive component that includes semiconductormaterial with resistance that varies in response to a thermal change; athermistor can therefore be employed in a resistive thermal sensor. Ineach of these definitions, variation in electrical resistance wouldinclude both linear and non-linear variations; a non-linear variationmight occur in a thermistor, for example, if a temperature change causesa phase change in the semiconductor material.

The terms “thermal signal” and “thermally conductive” or “thermallyconducting”, as used herein, are related. A component, layer, or otherstructure is “thermally conductive” or “thermally conducting” if itsufficiently conducts “thermal signals” from one position or region toanother that concurrent thermally sensitive operations in the otherposition or region can be affected. For example, if the thermal signalsinclude information, the information could be available for sensing andelectrical detection in the other position or region. More generally,thermal signals may follow a “thermally conductive path” between twocomponents, meaning a path along which signals are conducted.

Some of the implementations described herein employ structures with oneor more dimensions smaller than 1 mm, and various techniques have beenproposed for producing such structures. In particular, some techniquesfor producing such structures are referred to as “microfabrication.”Examples of microfabrication include various techniques for depositingmaterials such as growth of epitaxial material, sputter deposition,evaporation techniques, plating techniques, spin coating, printing, andother such techniques; techniques for patterning materials, such asetching or otherwise removing exposed regions of thin films through aphotolithographically patterned resist layer or other patterned layer;techniques for polishing, planarizing, or otherwise modifying exposedsurfaces of materials; and so forth.

In general, the structures, elements, and components described hereinare supported on a “support structure” or “support surface”, which termsare used herein to mean a structure or a structure's surface that cansupport other structures. More specifically, a support structure couldbe a “substrate”, used herein to mean a support structure on a surfaceof which other structures can be formed or attached by microfabricationor similar processes. Also, a support structure could be a “supportlayer”, meaning a layer of material that can support other structures;for example, a support layer could include a polymer film and a barrierlayer on a side of the polymer film.

As used herein, the term “thin”, when applied to a substrate or othersupport structure, refers to a thickness that is referred to in theindustry as thin. For example, a Kapton® layer of 5 mils (127 μm)thickness or less is considered thin in the industry. But 5 mil Kapton®layers are sufficiently thick that a variety of layered structures canbe photolithographically produced on their surfaces and damage will becaused only infrequently.

A structure or component is “directly on” a surface when it is both overand in contact with the surface. A structure is “fabricated on” asurface when the structure was produced on or over the surface bymicrofabrication or similar processes. A process that produces a layeror other accumulation of material over or directly on a substrate'ssurface can be said to “deposit” the material. A process that etches orin some other way takes away a layer, a part of a layer, or othermaterial from over or on a substrate's surface can be said to “remove”the material.

A “layered structure” refers herein to a structure that includes layersof material, such as microfabricated or thin film layers on a substrateor other support structure; a substrate can itself be one of the layersin a layered structure, and the substrate may in turn include layerswithin its structure. A “membrane”, as used herein, is a sheet-likelayered structure that does not itself include a rigid frame or a rigidsubstrate or some other rigid support structure for the layers, though amembrane can be supported by or mounted on a support structure of anysuitable kind. A membrane can include a complex arrangement ofstructures that provide various thermally conductive paths as well ascomponents with electrical characteristics, such as conductivity,capacitance, and resistance.

A “patterned layer” is a layer that is within a layered structure andthat occurs only in one or more bounded areas of the structure. Apatterned layer could be produced in many different ways, such as bydepositing the layer only in bounded areas or by depositing a layer overthe entire structure and then removing parts to leave bounded areas. Toproduce a patterned layer using photolithography is sometimes referredto herein as “patterning” the layer by photolithography orphotolithographically.

The surface of a substrate or other support surface is treated herein asproviding a directional orientation as follows: A direction away fromthe surface is “up”, “over”, or “above”, while a direction toward thesurface is “down”, “under”, or “below”. The terms “upper” and “top” aretypically applied to structures, components, or surfaces disposed awayfrom the surface, while “lower” or “underlying” are applied tostructures, components, or surfaces disposed toward the surface. Where asheet-like substrate or support layer has structures on two oppositesurfaces, the surfaces may be arbitrarily referred to as “front side”and “back side”. For a sheet-like substrate or support structure, adirection approximately parallel to one of its surfaces is “lateral”. Ingeneral, it should be understood that the above directional orientationis arbitrary and only for ease of description, and that a supportstructure or substrate may have any appropriate orientation.

A specific microfabrication technique employed in the implementationsdescribed below is “printing”, which is used herein to refer to anyoperation in which a fluid or fluid-like material is transferred ontoone or more areas of a surface, and, after being transferred, stabilizesinto a non-fluid state on substantially the same areas onto which it wastransferred. Printing therefore includes any of a wide variety oftechniques, including jet printing, screen printing, offset printing,photogravure, and so forth. A material that stabilizes from a fluid orfluid-like state into a non-fluid state is sometimes referred to hereinas a “phase change material”.

In the context of microfabrication, a “printed patterned” component is acomponent that is printed and that has a pattern when printing iscompleted. Printed patterned components can be produced inmicrofabrication for many purposes, including at least the following:Directly printing a printed patterned component that forms part of amicrofabricated structure; printing a printed patterned component tofunction as a liftoff mask to pattern a subsequently deposited layer;printing a printed patterned component over a previously deposited layerto function as an etch mask for removal of exposed areas of thepreviously deposited layer; printing a printed patterned layer tofunction as an adhesive deposit mask over which an adhesive material canbe deposited and the printed patterned component can then be removed toleave a pattern of adhesive material to which another material can beadhered to form a patterned layer; printing a printed patterned layer tofunction as a plating seed mask over which a seed material can bedeposited and the printed patterned component can then be removed toleave a pattern of seed material; and so forth.

An “integrated structure” is a structure with electrical components andconnections produced by microfabrication or similar processes. Anintegrated structure may, for example, be on or over a substrate onwhich it was produced or another suitable support structure. Othercomponents could be on the same support structure with an integratedstructure, such as discrete components produced by other types ofprocesses.

Implementations of integrated structures described herein includefeatures characterized as “cells” and “arrays”, terms that are used withrelated meanings: An “array” is an arrangement of “cells”. The term“peripheral circuitry” is used herein to refer to circuitry on the samesupport surface as an array but outside the array. The term “externalcircuitry” is more general, including not only peripheral circuitry butalso any other circuitry that is outside a given cell or array.

FIG. 1 shows integrated structure 10, which includes various componentsintegrated on fragile, flexible substrate 12, which can be a polymerlayer or a silicon nitride layer, for example. Substrate 12 couldinclude any of a variety of polymers with or without additionalnon-polymer layers. Candidate polymer materials include polyimide (forexample, DuPont Kapton® and others), polyester (for example, DuPontMylar®, DuPont Teonex® PEN, or DuPont Teijin® Tetoron® PET) foil,PolyEtherEtherKetone (PEEK), or PolyPhenylene Sulphide (PPS).

As shown, the components of structure 10 include array 14, an 8×12 arrayof 96 thermal sensing cells. To interface with standard automatedlaboratory equipment, the cells are positioned on 9 mm centers and theautomated laboratory equipment connects with contact pads of each cell.Array 14 can be one of several arrays fabricated on a single flexiblesubstrate.

Integrated structure 10 can, for example, be a calorimeter ornanocalorimeter array in which each cell can function as a calorimeteror nanocalorimeter. As used herein, a “nanocalorimeter” is a calorimetercapable of measuring in the range of nanocalories.

Within array 14, illustrative cell 20 is shown, within which arecomponents that include printed patterned artifacts. As used herein, a“printed patterned artifact” is any detectible characteristic or featureof a microfabricated structure that results from production or use of aprinted patterned component during microfabrication.

Printed patterned artifacts can be categorized according to how they areproduced. For example, a “direct printing artifact” is an artifact thatis present in a component of a structure as a result of the directprinting of the component. A “printed mask artifact”, on the other hand,is a printed patterned artifact that specifically results fromproduction or use of a printed patterned component as a mask, such asfor liftoff or etching, during microfabrication. A “masked etchartifact” is a printed mask artifact resulting from use of a printedpatterned component as an etch mask, while a “liftoff artifact” is aprinted mask artifact resulting from use of a printed patternedcomponent as a liftoff mask, as described for example in co-pending U.S.patent application Ser. No. 11/184,304, entitled “Patterned StructuresFabricated by Printing Mask Over Lift-Off Pattern” and incorporatedherein by reference in its entirety. As discussed below, the sameprinted patterned component can be used both as an etch mask and as aliftoff mask, in which case both masked etch artifacts and liftoffartifacts may result from its use.

A variety of printed patterned artifacts have been detected, some ofwhich are described below. Direct printing artifacts can, for example,include shapes of components in which print lines extend in onedirection; as a result, a rectangular component, for example, may havestraight boundaries or edges in one direction but scallop-like or jaggedboundaries or edges in the other direction. Furthermore, all of thesingle lines may be of the same width, or the widths of features may allbe multiples of the width of a single line, showing the use of printingtechniques. In addition, all printed lines may be aligned relative to asingle set of reference points as a result of a registration operation.Furthermore, the printing operation itself may leave three-dimensionalprinted patterned artifacts within the component. Some of these printedpatterned artifacts can, in turn, result in masked etch artifacts orliftoff artifacts; in particular, the boundary and edge shapes ofcomponents, the widths of lines, and the alignment of lines andcomponents are likely to be present in layers produced by a masked etchor a liftoff operation using a printed patterned component as a mask.

As used herein, the term “align” refers to an operation in which afeature of a structure is produced at a position by reference to anotherposition. For example, a feature may be aligned with a position of alower layer of a structure, or it may be aligned with alignment marks oralignment structures elsewhere in the structure, such as at theperiphery.

FIG. 2 shows an exemplary implementation of cell 20 in FIG. 1. Frame 22(shown in dashed lines) supports substrate 12 from underneath. Inaddition, islands 26 and 28 (shown in dashed lines) are on the undersideof substrate 12. Frame 22 illustratively has alignment structures 30 atthe corners of a recess within which islands 26 and 28 are positioned.Frame 22 can, for example, be formed from 1 mm thick stainless steel inwhich alignment structures 30 and the recess for islands 26 and 28 areetched, and the recess can then provide thermal isolation betweenislands 26 and 28 as well as between either of the islands and frame 22.Thermal isolation could be maintained in various other ways.

Contact pads 32, 34, 36, 38, 40, 42, and 44 are on the upper surface ofsubstrate 12 over frame 22. Each contact pad (except contact pad 34) isconnected to one or more of the components over islands 26 and 28 byleads that are shown schematically in FIG. 2. If cell 20 isapproximately square with 9 mm sides, the contact pads can beapproximately 1 mm×1 mm, allowing connection with pogo pins. The leadscan be approximately 50 μm wide or narrower; the leads could be evenwider than 50 μm as long as they do not result in loss of thermalisolation.

Thermistor slabs 50, 52, 54, and 56 are arranged in two pairs, oneincluding slabs 50 and 52 and the other including slabs 54 and 56. Thecontact pads could be connected in various ways to provide a bridge. Forexample, voltage VB can be applied to one of contact pads 32 and 36while the other is connected to ground to provide a Wheatstone bridgewith contact pad 38 connected to one intermediate node and with contactpad 40 connected to the other. Therefore, one of the thermistor slabpairs includes measuring thermistors while the other includes referencethermistors.

Although illustrated with thermistors as described above, cell 20 couldbe implemented with a variety of other resistive thermal sensors orthermal sensors of other types, such as thermocouples and thermopiles.Rather than semiconductor material, as in a thermistor, resistivethermal sensors could be made with other materials with a hightemperature coefficient of resistivity (TCR) when compared with othermaterials. Examples of materials that have been used in resistivethermal sensors include, for example, platinum, nickel, copper,iron-nickel alloys such as balco, tungsten, iridium, oxides of nickel,manganese, iron, cobalt, copper, magnesium, and titanium, and othermetals, metal alloys, and oxides of metal. Furthermore, it may bepossible to produce resistive thermal sensors or other thermal sensorsusing other conductive or semiconductive materials.

Also, the thermistor in cell 20 is merely exemplary of a wide variety ofpassive electronic devices that could be implemented with the techniquesdescribed herein. An important feature of many such devices is that theycan be implemented with parts in two different layers. Part of a firstlayer, such as a slab of electrically conductive or semiconductivematerial, has a contact surface, and one or more parts of a second layerof electrically conductive material are in electrical contact with thecontact surface and can also be electrically connected to externalcircuitry, where “external circuitry” refers to circuitry outside thedevice. For a passive device, information must be electricallytransferred without gain or control between the external circuitry andthe part of the first layer through at least one of the parts of thesecond layer; if gain or control occurs, as occurs in a transistor forexample, the device does not have the desired characteristics of apassive device.

FIG. 2 also shows drop mergers 60 and 62, on one of which a reaction canbe caused so that differential temperature measurement can be performed.On the opposite side of layer 12 from drop merger 60 and slabs 50 and 52is thermally conductive component 26. When a reaction occurs within afluid drop under control of drop merger 60, component 26 thermallycouples the drop with slabs 50 and 52, providing a thermally conductivepath from the drop to thermal sensors that include slabs 50 and 52.Similarly, component 28 thermally couples a fluid drop under control ofdrop merger 62 with slabs 54 and 56.

Drop mergers 60 and 62 illustratively have chevron-shaped features, butcould also be implemented by any of the techniques described inco-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/018,757, entitled“Apparatus and Method for Improved Electrostatic Drop Merging andMixing”, incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. Conductiveline 64 extends from pad 44 to the upper part of drop merger 62,conductive line 66 extends between the upper parts of drop mergers 60and 62, and conductive line 68 extends leftward from the upper part ofdrop merger 60 to provide some symmetry with conductive line 64. Pad 42is connected to the lower parts of both drop mergers by anotherconductive line.

Thermistor slabs 50, 52, 54, and 56 can include semiconductor material,as described in greater detail below. Parts of the bridge circuitry, onthe other hand, include conductive material such as metal or heavilydoped semiconductor material; conductive components includeinterdigitated conductive lines that extend across and electricallycontact upper surfaces of the slabs and conductive leads that connectthe interdigitated lines to each other and to contact pads 32, 36, 38,and 40.

FIG. 3 shows a top plan view of thermistor slabs 50 and 52, which aresimilar in many respects to slabs 54 and 56. As shown, each of slabs 50and 52 is rectangular with dimensions W and L, which are illustrativelyshown for slab 50, and the dimensions of slab 52 are substantiallyidentical. Leads 80 and 82 have interdigitated lines that extend acrossslab 50, while leads 84 and 86 have interdigitated lines that extendacross slab 52.

FIG. 4 shows slabs 50 and 52 in cross section along the line 4-4 in FIG.3. Substrate 12 can, for example, be a 3 mil (76.2 μm), 2 mil (50.8 μm),1 mil (25.4 μm), or ½ mil (12.7 μm) thick polyimide layer such asKapton® film from DuPont, on which other components are microfabricatedin a manner described in greater detail below. Substrate 12 providesthermal isolation between slabs 50 and 52 and other components and, forthis purpose, any other suitable thermally isolating film could be usedinstead of polymer, including inorganic materials, such as siliconnitride (SiN).

Thermally conductive component 26 is on the lower surface of polymerlayer 12, and can include thermally conductive metal such as copper oraluminum at a thickness of 9 μm or thinner; in general, component 26 caninclude any thermally conductive material and desired conduction can beobtained by adjusting thickness in proportion to the material's thermalconductivity.

Deposited over thermally conductive component 26 is anti-coupling layer90, which could be implemented as a 10 nm thick layer of gold, andfunctions to prevent capacitive coupling between adjacent parts ofthermally conductive component 26. Because it is very thin, layer 90 haslow thermal conductivity, preserving thermal isolation. Implementationsof layer 90 and of other applicable anti-coupling measures are describedin greater detail in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/167,746, entitled “Thermal Sensing”, and incorporated herein byreference in its entirety.

On the upper side of substrate 12, barrier layer 92 protects againstcontaminants and humidity, increasing device performance; barrier layer92 has been successfully implemented with a layer of approximately 300nm of silicon oxynitride (SiO_(x)N_(y)). Slabs 50 and 52 are on barrierlayer 92, and include material making it possible for the thermistorpair to be low noise thermistors. Leads 80, 82, 84, and 86 are on theupper surfaces of and in electrical contact with slabs 50 and 52 and, inplaces, on barrier layer 92. Leads 80, 82, 84, and 86 can beimplemented, for example, with a suitable conductive metal sandwich suchas Cr/Al/Cr or TiW/Al/Cr to provide electrical contact with slabs 50 and52 and to provide conductive paths to other circuitry, i.e. to externalcircuitry.

Additional layers deposited over leads 80, 82, 84, and 86 provideelectrical passivation, environmental barriers, and hydrophobicsurfaces, which are especially useful for a system in which temperaturesof reactions between fluids are measured through drop deposition andmerging. In FIG. 4, these layers illustratively include protective layer94 and polymer layer 96. Protective layer 94 can be produced byplasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) of silicon oxynitride,silicon oxide, or silicon nitride, such as to a thickness ofapproximately 300 nm, while polymer layer 96 can include a layer ofparylene deposited to a thickness of approximately 2 μm, to provide abarrier to liquid and to leakage and to provide some hydrophobicity.Fluorocarbon polymer can be dip-coated over the parylene to obtain amore hydrophobic surface. Alternatively, polymer layer 96 could includea Teflon® coating from DuPont or a similar material.

FIG. 5 shows several cross sections in producing cell 20 as in FIGS.2-4, taken along line 5-5 in FIGS. 2 and 3. As can be seen from FIG. 3,line 5-5 extends through the middle digit of lead 82 where it extendsover slab 50.

Prior to cross section 110 in FIG. 5, substrate 12 is prepared forsubsequent operations. As noted above, substrate 12 can be a 3 mil (76.2μm), 2 mil (50.8 μm), 1 mil (25.4 μm), or ½ mil (12.7 μm) thick Kapton®film or other polyimide film and is generally held flat duringprocessing, because flatness is important for printing andphotolithography and for uniform feature sizes. Prior to deposition ofmaterial on substrate 12, the surfaces of substrate 12 are cleaned, andsubstrate 12 is stretched and mounted by lamination on a frame (notshown). Mounting substrate 12 on a stainless steel frame reduces therisk of curling or cracking during processing, especially if substrate12 is not laminated.

Cross section 110 shows a portion of substrate 12 on which barrier layer92 has been deposited. Barrier layer 92 has been successfullyimplemented with PECVD silicon oxynitride deposited to a thickness of300 nm, which has been successful in producing a low noise thermistor.Other materials may also be suitable, including insulating films such assputtered silicon oxide or PECVD silicon oxide or oxynitride, where“silicon oxide” and “silicon oxynitride” include any possiblestoichiometry of silicon with oxygen or silicon with oxygen andnitrogen, respectively; for example, silicon oxides could also bereferred to as SiO_(x), and include SiO, SiO₂, and so forth. Whenproperly deposited, barrier layer 92 provides improved surfacesmoothness and a humidity and contamination barrier.

Cross section 110 also shows layer 112 with semiconductor thermistormaterial deposited over barrier layer 92. Layer 112 could includevanadium oxide (VO_(x)), heavily p-doped amorphous silicon, or othermaterials suitable for low noise thermistors. Unless otherwisespecified, the terms “vanadium oxide” and “VO_(x)” refer herein to anyoxide or combination of oxides of vanadium that can be used in thecontext, such as V₂O₅, VO₂, V₂O₃, VO, and so forth. In addition tovanadium oxide and amorphous silicon, as mentioned above, othersemiconductor materials with high TCR that would be candidates for usein layer 112 include yttrium barium copper oxide (YBCO) and mercurycadmium telluride.

Layer 112 has been successfully implemented by sputtering VO_(x) overbarrier layer 92 under deposition conditions that obtain requiredelectrical and thermal characteristics and low compressive stress toprevent deformation and provide flatness in layer 112. The thermistormaterial in layer 112 plays a key role in detector sensitivity.Sensitivity is directly correlated with TCR and inversely proportionalto a detector's noise.

In a specific experimental example, a VO_(x) film was DC sputtered ontoa glass substrate using a vanadium target in a mixed oxygen/argonenvironment. The sputtering conditions were optimized to yield a highlythermally sensitive and low noise film with typical sheet resistance of500 kΩ/square and TCR of 3.4%.

After layer 112 has been deposited, an annealing operation improves lownoise characteristics. In particular, annealing in an appropriate gassuch as N₂ at a suitable temperature for an appropriate period of timedecreases resistivity of layer 112 and reduces 1/f noise level of aresulting thermistor. Sheet resistance values on the order of 400kΩ/square have been obtained for 300 nm thick film of VO_(x), and valuesin a wide range of resistivities, approximately 300-800 kΩ)/square, havebeen achieved for VO_(x) with high TCR and low 1/f noise.

It should be noted that the device resistance of thermistors in cell 20plays an important role in sensitivity. In general, high resistanceincreases Johnson noise, while low resistance causes poor offsetmatching and raises issues with interconnect line resistance and pogopin contact resistance. The arrangement of interdigitated fingers,illustrated in FIGS. 2-4, provides an elegant solution to this problem.It has been shown that four folded fingers with a total area of 24square reduce device resistance to approximately 12 kΩ, with about 8 μKof Johnson noise and with optimization for signal analysis. Higher orlower device resistances would degrade sensitivity. Folding of thefingers is also important in reducing the dimensions of cell 20, whichhelps to reduce thermal signal delay between drop mergers andthermistors.

Additional information about techniques for producing layer 112 andabout its characteristics and characteristics of other semiconductorlayers for low noise sensors is set forth in co-pending U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/167,748, entitled “Resistive Thermal Sensing”,and incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

Cross section 110 also illustrates wax feature 114 jet printed overlayer 112 to serve as an etch mask. As can be seen, wax feature 114 is aprinted patterned component that includes artifacts of printing,schematically represented by darkened areas 116, each of whichrepresents a boundary between printed lines. The size of lines withinwax feature 114 can be controlled by adjusting the surface energy andsubstrate temperature during the jet printing process.

Although feature 114 and various other features described herein arereferred to as “wax”, that word is not intended to indicate chemicalcomposition, but rather characteristics of the material when printed.More specifically, in contrast to inks, toners, and other materials thatcan be printed, “wax” refers to a material that changes phase during orshortly after being transferred onto a medium, changing from fluid orfluid-like form to solid or semi-solid form. Examples of such materialsare described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,972,261, incorporatedherein by reference in its entirety.

Although not explicitly shown, the printing of feature 114 and all otherprinted features described herein includes an aligning operation bywhich each printed line is positioned relative to one or more alignmentmarks or structures. Alignment structure 30 (FIG. 2) could be used forthis purpose, for example.

Cross section 120 shows a stage after cross section 110, in whichetching has been performed to remove areas of layer 112 except thosecovered by the etch mask that includes wax feature 114. Specifically,thermistor slab 50 remains after the etching of layer 112. Any suitabletechnique could be used to perform etching, including wet or dryetching. As a result of production with printed wax feature 114, slab 50includes printed patterned artifacts, some of which may be seen in FIG.6.

FIG. 6 shows subsequent steps in the experimental example describedabove, in which VO_(x) was sputtered on a glass substrate. Image 122 inthe upper part of FIG. 6 shows wax features 124, printed patternedcomponents that are jet printed over the sputtered VO_(x) film tofunction as etch masks. Each of wax features 124 includes five adjacentprinted lines, and the boundary regions between adjacent lines as wellas scallop-like shapes at the ends of the lines are examples ofartifacts of printing. In the illustrated experiment, the temperature ofthe substrate was maintained at 40° C. during printing and 40 μm linewidths were obtained. After wax features 124 were printed, the VO_(x)film was etched using a reactive ion etch (RIE) under an oxygen and CF₄environment with the thermistor slabs well protected by wax features124.

Image 130 in the lower part of FIG. 6 illustrates the appearance ofthermistor slabs 132 after etching and after removal of wax features 124using a THF solution which removed the wax easily in a single step. Asmay be visible in image 130, each of slabs 132 includes printedpatterned artifacts, such as scalloped edges similar to those of waxfeatures 124.

Advantages of printing an etch mask to produce thermistor slabs asillustrated in FIG. 6 include the simplicity of the process and thereduction of the number of process steps. In contrast to a typicalphotoresist etch mask, wax features 124 were easily dissolved from theVO_(x) surface, eliminating the need for further cleaning using plasmaand organic solvents as are typically required with a photoresist mask.The use of plasma and organic solvents is problematic because it mayresult in surface modification and degradation of contact with the nextlayer deposited over slabs 132.

Cross section 120 in FIG. 5 also illustrates conductive layer 140, whichcan be produced by depositing a metal stack such as Cr/Al/Cr orTiW/Al/Cr. If slab 50 includes VO_(x), TiW/Al/Cr may provide betterohmic contact with slab 50, improving noise performance. Cross section120 also shows wax features 142 printed over layer 140 to provideanother etch mask, with a 50 μm line width as suggested by shading 144to illustrate artifacts of printing. After printing of wax features 142,a wet etch can be performed to produce electrodes of drop merger 60(FIG. 2) and leads 80 and 82.

In an alternative technique to that shown in FIG. 5, wax featurescomplementary to the mask that includes wax features 142 can be printedover the structure shown in cross section 120 prior to the deposition oflayer 140. Then, after layer 140 has been deposited, a liftoff operationcan be performed to remove material over the wax features, leaving otherportions of layer 140 intact.

FIG. 7 shows an image 160 of another experimental example performed on aglass substrate. Image 160 shows portions of four regions in whichoperations have been concurrently performed to produce similarthermistor-like structures.

In the region in the upper left portion of image 160, VO_(x) slab 162 ispartially covered by electrodes 164 and 166. Electrodes 164 and 166 wereproduced similarly to the alternative technique described above: Aliftoff mask was printed over slab 162, producing a printed patternedcomponent. A metal stack with layers of chromium and gold was thendeposited by DC sputtering to produce a conductive layer similar tolayer 140 in cross section 120 in FIG. 5. The conductive layer was thenpatterned by lifting off the mask in a vibrating THF solution, whicheasily removed the mask and the overlying metal. The remaining portionsof the conductive layer included printed patterned artifacts, as can beseen in FIG. 7.

FIG. 8 is a graph showing the current/voltage characteristic of athermistor-like structure as shown in FIG. 7. Because measured currentis a linear function of applied voltage, FIG. 8 demonstrates that ohmiccontacts were produced between electrodes 164 and 166 and slab 162.Therefore, the use of a printed liftoff mask did not damage theelectrical properties of the materials.

The experiment illustrated in FIGS. 7 and 8 shows that ohmic contactrequired for linear signal processing can be established with, forexample, a Cr/Al/Cr composite layer deposited over a printed wax maskwhich is then lifted off to produce metal stack electrodes, leads, andlines with 50 μm line width. In an alternative architecture, a compositemetal stack of Cr/Al/TiW would be deposited and then a mask would beprinted over it, with the metal stack being patterned by wet etchingprior to deposition of a VO_(x) film. With either implementation, itwould be important to use interdigitated fingers rather than electrodesshaped as in FIG. 7, for the reasons set forth above.

The technique demonstrated by the experimental example of FIGS. 7 and 8is advantageous because it reduces the number of processing steps andsimplifies the liftoff process. The use of printing for patterning aconductive metal layer on flexible substrates is advantageous comparedto conventional photolithography in which the liftoff process is long,aggressive, and can result in film delamination, which did not occurwith the experimental example. Printing reduces the number of elevatedtemperature processes (such as photoresist bake) that can cause flexdeformations and defects in the noncompliant rigid layers on top. Thenumber of processing steps is also reduced when printing is used,further reducing substrate deformation caused by solvent absorption andsolvent incompatibility.

Electrodes, leads, and lines produced by liftoff or wet etch techniqueswill include printed patterned artifacts, some of which are visible inFIG. 7. For example, electrodes 164 and 166 show scallop-like endsresulting from the printing of the mask layer. It would also be possibleto produce electrodes, leads, and lines by direct printing, in whichcase additional printed patterned artifacts would arise. For example, anumber of solution processed conducting materials such as metalnanoparticles or conjugated polymers can be deposited by jet printing.With the direct printing approach, deposition and patterning occur atthe same time in a single processing step.

Cross section 180 in FIG. 5 shows a subsequent stage at which conductivelayer 140 has been patterned by one of the techniques described above.As a result, leads 80 and 82 extend across slab 50 as well as around it,while electrodes 182 and 184 of drop merger 60 are also produced. Otherelectrodes, leads, and lines shown in FIG. 2 are also produced in thisstage, as well as the contact pads, all of which include conductivematerial from layer 140.

Cross section 180 also shows top layer 186, which can be produced bydepositing protective layer 94 and polymer layer 96 (FIG. 4). Asdescribed above, layers 94 and 96 provide an upper barrier layer, andopenings can be etched through layers 94 and 96 in the manner describedbelow in relation to production of contact pads.

After production of contact pads, the layered structure on one surfaceof substrate 12 can be completed, such as by depositing and patterning acoating of parylene. Cross section 190 in FIG. 5 shows a structureproduced on the other side of substrate 12, including thermallyconductive component 26. In one approach, component 26 could be producedby depositing a 9 μm layer of copper and by then printing a wax maskover it, with only the areas outside component 26 exposed. The maskpattern could be aligned with the layered structure on the oppositesurface of substrate 12 using any suitable technique, such as analignment mark or structure that extends through substrate 12. Then,exposed copper areas could be removed by any suitable etching process.

This example illustrates a major advantage of jet printing in productionof layered structures on flexible substrates. Due to processingtemperatures, flexible substrates deform, and the alignment of adeformed substrate to a hard mask is extremely difficult. With jetprinting, the mask is a digital pattern, so that registration can beobtained by correcting the alignment for changes in the substrate. Jetprinting could also be used in conjunction with conventionalphotolithography, in which case a complete structure would be producedby a form of hybrid patterning, where some layers are patterned by waxprinting and others that need smaller feature resolution are patternedby photolithography.

In one implementation, the starting substrate can be a pre-manufacturedstructure that includes substrate 12, a polymer layer, on which a layerof copper has been electrodeposited. The copper could be produced, forexample, by depositing one or more thin seed layer such as a chromiumseed layer and a copper seed layer and then electroplating copper ontothe seed layers. Techniques for producing such a starting substrate aredescribed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,863,808, incorporated herein by reference.

Cross section 190 also illustrates anti-coupling coating 192 depositedover component 26. After deposition of coating 192, the resultingstructure can be cut off of the frame on which it was mounted duringprocessing and can be attached to frame 22 (FIG. 2). Frame 22 acts as astiffener to hold substrate 12 taut and flat. Further operations can beperformed, such as laser trimming of slabs to balance ridges.

When connected in a bridge circuit, cell 20 can be operated as follows:Two drops of approximately 250 nl can be released on each of dropmergers 60 and 62. The drops on one merger can initiate a reaction suchas a protein-ligand binding reaction, an enzymatic reaction, or anorganelle activity, while the drops on the other merger can benon-reactive, providing a reference for differential measurement. Afterthe drops reach thermal equilibrium, the drops on both mergers can beconcurrently merged and mixed by applying appropriate voltage signalsacross drop merger electrodes (e.g. electrodes 182 and 184 in FIG. 5).

A thermal input signal resulting from merging and mixing of drops isconducted downward through the layered structure and part of substrate12 to thermally conductive component 26 or 28. Then the thermal inputsignal is conducted laterally to a region under slabs 50 and 52 or slabs54 and 56 where the signal is conducted upward to the slabs throughsubstrate 12 and layer 92. A change in temperature in the slabs on oneside of cell 20 changes their resistance, resulting in detection of acurrent through a Wheatstone bridge circuit that would be balanced ifresistance were the same as that of the reference thermistors on theother side of cell 20. The current's magnitude indicates the temperaturedifference between the measuring thermistors and the referencethermistors.

FIG. 9 shows several cross sections in producing contact pad 38 in FIG.2, taken along line 9-9. Due to its internal structure, contact pad 38can also be treated as a passive electronic device, characterized as aconductance. The illustrated cross sections illustrate in more detailhow any of contact pads 32, 34, 36, 38, 40, 42, and 44 in FIG. 2 can beproduced by operations performed between cross sections 120 and 180 inFIG. 5.

Cross section 210 in FIG. 9 illustrates a stage in which pad body 212has been produced in the patterning of conductive layer 140. Then,protective layer 94 is deposited, such as by PECVD of siliconoxynitride, providing a moisture and contamination barrier over cell 20.In order to provide good contact with pad body 212, however, protectivelayer 94 must be etched over pad body 212. Therefore, wax mask 214 hasbeen printed over protective layer 94 with an opening over pad body 212.The opening can, for example, be a square with 1500 μm on a side.

Cross section 220 shows a subsequent stage in processing in whichetching has been performed to remove the silicon oxynitride of layer 94from over pad body 212. Then, to provide improved electrical contact,such as with pogo pins, highly conductive layer 222 has been deposited,such as by first sputtering a 40 nm adhesion layer of titanium and bythen sputtering a 80 nm layer of gold over it. Note that layer 222covers the exposed portion of pad body 212 as well as mask 214.

Cross section 230 shows a subsequent stage in which a liftoff operationhas been performed to remove mask 214 and the portion of layer 222 overmask 214, leaving contact 232 on pad body 212. This operation could beperformed in a vibrating THF solution, in the manner described above inrelation to FIG. 15. Then, protective layer 96 has been deposited overprotective layer 94 and contact 232. As noted above, layer 96 can beparylene to provide an additional barrier layer and a hydrophobic basefor proper operation of drop mergers. Finally, etch mask 234 has beenprinted over protective layer 96.

Finally, cross section 240 shows the result of a further etchingoperation to remove protective layer 96 over gold contact 32, leaving a“contact via”, meaning an opening through which electrical contact canbe made, such as with a pogo pin. This can be done by etching theparylene in layer 96 using an RIE etch. Note that mask 234 can haveexactly the same pattern as mask 214, simplifying the processing, andcan be similarly removed after etching has been performed. As a resultof these operations, pad body 212 has good ohmic contact with pogo pinsthrough gold contact 232, which is therefore electrically connectible toexternal circuitry. During operation of contact pad 38, information iselectrically transferred without gain or control between externalcircuitry and pad body 212 through gold contact 232.

After completion of structures on substrate 12, as described above, andafter mounting on a stainless steel frame, a cross section similar tothat in FIG. 10 results, although some of the features shown in FIG. 10are different than those described above, illustrating alternativeimplementations. In particular, FIG. 10 illustrates frame 22, aconductive material connected to ground so that an anti-coupling layercan be grounded. The anti-coupling layer could be over component 26 asshown in cross section 190 in FIG. 5, or, as shown in FIG. 10, could beunder component 26, as illustrated by layer 270. Frame 22 can alsoprovide a thermally stable support for the multi-layered structure thatincludes substrate 12. Frame 22 can have a high thermal inertia.

The combination of component 26 and layer 270 can be fabricated bybeginning with a multi-layer film that includes a polymer layer, i.e.substrate 12, a chromium layer that will become layer 270, and a copperlayer from which component 26 can be produced by etching in anappropriate pattern. As described above, the etching operation could beperformed through a printed etch mask (not shown), and the etchant mustremove the material in the exposed copper layer while leaving exposedchromium in layer 270 for conduction. Other techniques for production ofor mounting on frame 22 are described in co-pending U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/167,746, entitled “Thermal Sensing”, andincorporated herein by reference.

FIG. 10 also illustrates thermal sensor 272, shown schematically, aswell as electrodes 274, 276, and 278. Thermal sensor 272 could beimplemented with a semiconductor structure such as slab 50 in FIG. 5,with conductive lines extending across an upper or lower contact surfaceor with other suitable components. Electrodes 274, 276, and 278 providean alternative implementation to the chevron-shaped drop mergersillustrated in FIGS. 2 and 5.

In a current implementation, electrode 278 is electrically connected toground through a contact pad, while electrodes 274 and 276 are driven bytime-varying signals at an appropriate voltage such as 120 volts orgreater, also provided through one or two contact pads. In a currentimplementation, these signals include pulses of approximately 50 msecand 120 V amplitude with rise times in the range 1-50 μsec.

The implementations in FIGS. 1-10 illustrate examples of passiveelectrical devices that include part of a first layer with a contactsurface and, in electrical contact with the contact surface, parts of asecond layer. The first layer includes electrically conductive orsemiconductive material, while the second layer includes electricallyconductive material. A subset of the second layer's parts areelectrically connectible to external circuitry. The layers are within alayered structure on a support surface, and at least one of the partsincludes one or more printed patterned artifacts. In operation,information is electrically transferred without gain or control betweenthe external circuitry and the part of the first layer through at leastone of the subset of the second layer's parts.

In specific implementations, the first layer can include resistivesemiconductive material and the second layer can include electricallyconductive metal; or both layers can include electrically conductivemetal. The external circuitry can include a contact pad within thelayered structure, and one of the subset of the second layer's parts canbe electrically connected to the contact pad. Or, the external circuitrycan include a pogo pin external to the layered structure, with thesubset of the second layer's parts including a contact pad that can beelectrically contacted by the pogo pin. The printed patterned layerartifacts can include at least one of liftoff artifacts, masked etchartifacts, and direct printing artifacts. For example, they can includean uneven boundary portion or alignment with a position of a lower layeror with an alignment mark or alignment structure.

In one specific implementation, the device is a resistive device, withthe part of the first layer a resistive component. The subset of thesecond layer's parts includes first and second leads in electricalcontact with the resistive component at first and second areas of thecontact surface that are spaced apart. The resistance between the firstand second leads can, for example, vary in response to non-electricalstimuli. The electrically transferred information can indicate detectionof the non-electrical stimuli.

In another specific implementation, the device is a conductive device,with the part of the first layer a conductive component. The subset ofthe second layer's parts can include a metal contact pad in electricalcontact with the conductive component over substantially the entirecontact surface. The first layer can include a stack of conductive metalsublayers, while the second layer can include an adhesion sublayer onthe contact surface and a gold sublayer on the adhesion sublayer.

The implementations in FIGS. 1-10 also illustrate examples of passiveelectronic devices that include part of a resistive first layer with acontact surface and, in electrical contact with the contact surface,first and second parts of a second layer. The first layer includessemiconductive material, while the second layer includes electricallyconductive material. The second layer's first and second parts eachinclude a respective set of parallel lines extending across and inelectrical contact with the contact surface and a connecting part not incontact with the contact surface but that electrically connects the setof lines. The sets of lines are interdigitated. As above, the layers arewithin a layered structure and information is electrically transferredwithout gain or control. Each of the parts includes one or more printedpatterned artifacts.

In specific implementations, the resistance between the second layer'sfirst and second parts can vary in response to non-electrical stimuli,allowing electrical detection of the non-electrical stimuli by circuitryconnected across the first and second parts. The first and second partscan be dimensioned and positioned so that the resistance between themvaries within an acceptable operating range.

The implementations in FIGS. 1-10 also illustrate examples of arraysthat include a support structure with a layered structure on its surfaceand cells. Each cell includes a respective region of the surface and arespective part of the layered structure on the cell's region. The partof the layered structure of at least one cell includes a passiveelectronic device as described above.

The implementations in FIGS. 1-10 also illustrate examples of a methodthat produces apparatus with a layered structure on a surface of asupport structure, and producing the apparatus includes producing apassive electronic device with part of a first layer and one or moreparts of a second layer as described above. The method includes, inproducing the part of the first layer and the parts of the second layer,performing a printing operation.

In specific implementations, the method can print a mask over adeposited layer of material, then remove the exposed part of thedeposited layer, leaving a part. The method can also deposit a layer ofmaterial over a printed mask, then perform a liftoff operation on themask to remove part of the deposited layer, leaving a part. The methodcan print a patterned layer of material.

The exemplary implementations described above involve calorimeters andcalorimeter and nanocalorimeter arrays, which could be applied in manyways. More specifically, implementations can be applied innanocalorimeters and nanocalorimeter arrays that enable measurement ofenthalpic changes, such as enthalpic changes arising from reactions,phase changes, changes in molecular conformation, and the like.Furthermore, combinatorial methods and high-throughput screening methodscan use such nanocalorimeters in the study, discovery, and developmentof new compounds, materials, chemistries, and chemical processes, aswell as high-throughput monitoring of compounds or materials, orhigh-throughput monitoring of the processes used to synthesize or modifycompounds or materials.

The techniques described above in relation to FIGS. 1-10 areadvantageous because they make it possible to replace photolithographywith printing in producing structures as described above. For example,various layers can be patterned by direct printing or with printedmasks, whether used as etch masks, liftoff masks, or both. Printing candramatically reduce the number of fabrication steps and is especiallyappropriate for thermal sensors or other devices with passive componentson flexible substrates. Fabrication yield can be increased, resolutioncan be improved, and cost can be reduced. Thermal sensing devices withlower 1/f noise can be produced. Fewer manual steps are required, makingfabrication more feasible and cheaper.

The exemplary implementations described above are illustrated withspecific shapes, dimensions, and other characteristics, but the scope ofthe invention includes various other shapes, dimensions, andcharacteristics. For example, the particular shapes of parts ofpatterned layers could be different, and could be of appropriate sizesfor any particular type of passive electronic device. Also, spacingsbetween components produced as described above can be less than theprinted line width, allowing for features such as channel lengths thatare smaller than the printed line width. Furthermore, rather than beingthermistors or contacts as described above, the electronic devices asdescribed above could be passive devices manufactured in various otherways for other types of applications and could include various othermaterials.

Similarly, the exemplary implementations described above includespecific examples of printed patterned artifacts, but various otherartifacts could occur as a result of printing. Further, the aboveexemplary implementations employ specific types of printing, but a widevariety of other printing techniques could be used within the scope ofthe invention.

While the invention has been described in conjunction with specificexemplary implementations, it is evident to those skilled in the artthat many alternatives, modifications, and variations will be apparentin light of the foregoing description. Accordingly, the invention isintended to embrace all other such alternatives, modifications, andvariations that fall within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

1. A passive electronic device comprising: part of a first layer thatincludes electrically conductive or semiconductive material; the part ofthe first layer having a contact surface; and in electrical contact withthe contact surface, one or more parts of a second layer that includeselectrically conductive material; a subset of one or more of the partsof the second layer being electrically connectible to externalcircuitry; the first and second layers being within a layered structureon a support surface, at least one of the parts of the first and secondlayers including one or more printed patterned artifacts; in operationof the device, information being electrically transferred without gainor control between the external circuitry and the part of the firstlayer through at least one of the subset of parts of the second layer.2. The device of claim 1 in which the first layer includes resistivesemiconductive material.
 3. The device of claim 2 in which the secondlayer includes electrically conductive metal.
 4. The device of claim 1in which the first and second layers both include electricallyconductive metal.
 5. The device of claim 1 in which the externalcircuitry includes a contact pad within the layered structure, one ofthe subset of parts of the second layer being electrically connected tothe contact pad.
 6. The device of claim 1 in which the externalcircuitry includes a pogo pin external to the layered structure, thesubset of parts of the second layer including a contact pad that can beelectrically contacted by the pogo pin.
 7. The device of claim 1 inwhich the printed patterned artifacts include at least one of liftoffartifacts, masked etch artifacts, and direct printing artifacts.
 8. Thedevice of claim 7 in which the printed patterned artifacts include anuneven boundary portion of a part of one of the first and second layers.9. The device of claim 7 in which the printed patterned artifactsinclude alignment of a part of one of the first and second layers with aposition of a lower layer or with an alignment mark or alignmentstructure.
 10. The device of claim 1 in which the device is a resistivedevice, the part of the first layer being a resistive component, thesubset of parts of the second layer including first and second leads inelectrical contact with the resistive component at first and secondareas of the contact surface, the first and second areas being spacedapart in a direction across the contact surface.
 11. The device of claim10 in which the resistance of the resistive component between the firstand second leads varies in response to non-electrical stimuli, theinformation that is electrically transferred indicating detection of thenon-electrical stimuli.
 12. The device of claim 1 in which the device isa conductive device, the part of the first layer being a conductivecomponent, the subset of parts of the second layer including a metalcontact pad in electrical contact with the conductive component oversubstantially the entire contact surface.
 13. The device of claim 12 inwhich the first layer includes a stack of conductive metal sublayers andthe second layer includes an adhesion sublayer on the contact surfaceand a gold sublayer on the adhesion sublayer.
 14. The device of claim 1in which both of the parts of the first and second layers each includeone or more patterned printed layer artifacts.
 15. The device of claim 1in which the part of the first layer has a respective shape resultingfrom direct jet printing or from a jet printed mask and each of theparts of the second layer has a respective shape resulting from directjet printing or from a jet printed mask.
 16. A passive electronic devicecomprising: part of a first layer that includes semiconductive material;the part of the first layer being resistive and having a contactsurface; and first and second parts of a second layer that includeselectrically conductive material; each of the first and second parts ofthe second layer including: a respective set of two or moresubstantially parallel lines that extend across and are in electricalcontact with the contact surface; and a connecting part that is not incontact with the contact surface but that electrically connects therespective set of lines; the sets of lines of the first and second partsof the second layer being interdigitated; the first and second layersbeing within a layered structure on a support surface, the part of thefirst layer and the first and second parts of the second layer eachincluding one or more respective printed patterned artifacts; inoperation of the device, information being electrically transferredwithout gain or control to or from the part of the first layer throughat least one of the first and second parts of the second layer.
 17. Thedevice of claim 16 in which the resistance of the part of the firstlayer between the first and second parts of the second layer varies inresponse to non-electrical stimuli; the first and second parts of thesecond layer allowing electrical detection of the non-electrical stimuliby electrical circuitry connected across the first and second parts. 18.The device of claim 17 in which the first and second parts of the secondlayer are dimensioned and positioned so that the resistance between themvaries within an acceptable operating range.
 19. The device of claim 16in which the printed patterned artifacts include an uneven boundaryportion of a part of one of the first and second layers.
 20. The deviceof claim 16 in which the printed patterned artifacts include alignmentof a part of one of the first and second layers with a position of alower layer or with an alignment mark or alignment structure.
 21. Thedevice of claim 16 in which the part of the first layer has a respectiveshape resulting from direct jet printing or from a jet printed mask andeach of the first and second parts of the second layer has a respectiveshape resulting from direct jet printing or from a jet printed mask. 22.An array comprising: a support structure with a surface; a layeredstructure on the surface; and one or more cells, each cell including: arespective region of the surface; and a respective part of the layeredstructure on the cell's region of the surface; the respective part of atleast one cell including a passive electronic device that includes: partof a first layer that includes electrically conductive or semiconductivematerial; the part of the first layer having a contact surface; and inelectrical contact with the contact surface, one or more parts of asecond layer that includes electrically conductive material; a subset ofone or more of the parts of the second layer being electricallyconnectible to external circuitry; at least one of the parts of thefirst and second layers including one or more printed patternedartifacts; in operation of the passive electronic device, informationbeing electrically transferred without gain or control between theexternal circuitry and the part of the first layer through at least oneof the subset of parts of the second layer.
 23. The array of claim 22 inwhich the support structure includes a polymer layer.
 24. The array ofclaim 22 in which the printed patterned artifacts include an unevenboundary portion of a part of one of the first and second layers. 25.The array of claim 22 in which the printed patterned artifacts includealignment of a part of one of the first and second layers with aposition of a lower layer or with an alignment mark or alignmentstructure.
 26. The array of claim 22 in which the part of the firstlayer has a respective shape resulting from direct jet printing or froma jet printed mask and each of the parts of the second layer has arespective shape resulting from direct jet printing or from a jetprinted mask.
 27. A device on a support surface, the device comprising:first, second, third, and fourth resistive thermal sensors; in use, thefirst and second thermal sensors receiving a first thermal signal andthe third and fourth thermal sensors receiving a second thermal signal;first, second, third, and fourth contact pads; a set of electricallyconductive leads that connect the thermal sensors and the contact padsso that the first, second, third, and fourth contact pads can beconnected into a Wheatstone bridge circuit that would be balanced ifresistances of the first and second thermal sensors were the same asresistances of the third and fourth thermal sensors; a first patternedlayer that includes semiconductive material deposited over the supportsurface; each of the first, second, third, and fourth thermal sensorsincluding a respective semiconductive slab that is part of the firstpatterned layer, that is resistive, that has a respective surface, andthat has a shape resulting from direct jet printing or from a jetprinted mask; the shape including first and second straight boundaries;a second patterned layer that includes electrically conductive materialdeposited over the support surface; each of the first, second, third,and fourth thermal sensors including respective first and second sets ofdigit lines that are parts of the second patterned layer; each of thefirst, second, third, and fourth contact pads including a respectivecontact body that is part of the second patterned layer; each of the setof leads being part of the second patterned layer; each of the digitlines, contact bodies, and leads having a shape resulting from directjet printing or from a jet printed mask; and a third patterned layerthat includes highly electrically conductive material; each of thefirst, second, third, and fourth contact pads including a respectivehighly conductive contact part that, in use, provides ohmic contactbetween the respective contact body and external circuitry, the highlyconductive contact part being part of the third patterned layer; thehighly conductive contact part having a shape resulting from direct jetprinting or from a jet printed mask; the set of leads including first,second, third, and fourth leads, connected to the respective contactbodies of the first, second, third, and fourth contact pads,respectively, and each extending around the first straight boundary ofthe respective slab of one of the thermal sensors and connecting to therespective first set of digit lines and around the second straightboundary of the respective slab of another of the thermal sensors andconnecting to the respective second set of digit lines so that each slabhas a respective first lead part around its first straight boundary anda respective second lead part around its second straight boundary; eachdigit line in each slab's first set of digit lines extending from aroundthe slab's first straight boundary across the surface of the slab; eachdigit line in each slab's second set of digit lines extending fromaround the second straight boundary across the surface of the slab; eachof the digit lines in the first and second sets being in electricalcontact with the surface of the slab; the first and second sets of digitlines being interdigitated; when connected into a Wheatstone bridge inuse, information being electrically transferred between the externalcircuitry and the respective slabs of the thermal sensors through thecontact pads, the set of leads, and the digit lines without gain orcontrol.